Entrance of the Temple

"Uhh...not too sure," piped a voice from the corner.

It was Sayaka, coughing and spluttering from the dust, wiping the earth from her apron.

"Well, we were goin to help Saren and the others but something exploded and sent us sprawling."

Sayaka coughed again and sank to her knees, she felt suddenly dizzy. The plague was getting worse. Nevertheless, they still had a mission to finish and she'd be dead before she let herself become baggage. Looking round, she saw the extent of the damage- at least the bugs seemed to be dead, which was a good thing. She didn't notice Fluttershy's absence; it was a rather secondary concern when compared to her friends and Kyouko sprawled out in front of her.

Jack nodded grimly. So. Our enemy has a name.

"Thank you," he replied. "If he is indeed so great a threat, it is all the more important that we regain the trust of the lizardfolk. Or perhaps, if one of these dragons is near, we might persuade them to aid us."

Then he turned again to Ranmaru's cold resolve. He had little hope of changing the other samurai's ways in a single conversation. But perhaps he could at least convince him to hold back his wrath.

"You know that if you persist in that decision, should we obtain our release somehow, we will have to leave you behind," he said. "My own honor demands that I atone for what has happened in a different way than yours. Yet I tell you that I was like you once. When I began my journey to free my homeland from evil, I travelled to foreign lands and spoke to many people. At first, I was greatly offended by their ways and speech. I went so far as to try and fight someone who had, by my customs, gravely insulted my family."

He couldn't help a faint smile at the memory. "As I was only a child, I was of course quickly beaten. But that night, one of my own countrymen with whom I was traveling spoke to me. He reminded me that I was the only hope for my homeland, my people, and my father, all of which even then were enduring unspeakable horrors. If, when I grew old enough for those I challenged to take me seriously, I was killed, there would be no one to defeat evil and all the world would suffer for my honor."

His features grew dark again.

"I do not speak in what might have been. I was taken from my own time and flung far into the future. I have seen the world that my enemy has made without me. There is little but tyranny, cruelty, and misery for those who live there. And no one there thought the honor of my people was worth that price. But at the time, I did not know that. And even as a child, I understood that my friend was right. It was a terrible burden and at times, I felt as though I would die with shame or anger. But the more peoples I spoke to, the more realms that I saw, the more I came to believe that ways other than my own are merely that, different, not barbaric, for the most part, and it is not my place to judge them, just as it is not their place to judge my customs. What the lizardfolk have done to you is an offense worthy of the crusade you speak of by our ways, yes. But by the same token, what they believe we have done is as much of an offense as that, they are preparing for war because of our supposed treachery. I do not ask you to understand, only to endure what has happened without judgment or vengeance on the innocent. If you die here, your home suffers, even as mine did."

Burial Complex

"Don't start with that shit." Edward grumbled, forcibly helping Nana Karas to her feet, removing his red coat- which didn't feel weird at all, then again, he had spent the last few years without the coat and had only recovered it after visiting that world where he met his brother once more- and putting it on the old woman. "Here, use this." He said as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. "Stay out of her range."

Stepping over to the uncovered iron floor, he clapped his hands and touched it, producing a stone spear with an iron tip, spinning it on his hand and rushing past Nana Karas, attempting to pierce the wound Envy had created. His mistake was that he got too close. Luckily, with the length of the spear, Edward would be able to make the wound deeper and not get covered in whatever the hell that was.

Gogol Plains

Envy immediately pulled his arm-blade back after feeling just how strong Tzitzimitl's tongue, turning it back into his normal arm. "Fuck!" He yelled out, trying to shake the inky liquid away from his arm, unwittingly spreading some more of it over his body. He stopped, bringing it up to his nose to sniff it, the sheer smell of the thing causing him to gag and stumble back, losing his balance.

The world was playing in slow motion for him as he fell to his knees, clutching his stomach and moaning as an intense pain started to surge all throughout his body, concentrating on a spot in his chest before he doubled over, his mouth opening out of instinct as a jet of a red 'mucus' came out of his body, filling the lines amongst the stone that formed the floor, leaving Envy on a pool of his own vomit. How... how did he vomit? Last he checked, he didn't exactly have organs. And he hadn't eaten in what felt like centuries. How did he—

His eyes widened as he saw something shimmering in the vomit, which made him realize that it was a different kind of liquid: his own blood. And floating around in that little pool was a bright, pink-ish stone. His Philosopher's Stone. His heart. It was right in front of his eyes, detached from his body, and yet, his own body wasn't disintegrating and turning into ash to be regenerated around the stone. Why?... no. It couldn't be. Envy's eyes widened as the stone cracked in front of his eyes, splintering into a million pieces which disappeared on the wind.

His stone was gone. How could his stone be gone? And then Envy doubled over again, clutching his chest. The pain had returned, and it started to throb, as if a strong force was beating at his chest from the inside. Silence, and then pain. Silence, pain. Eventually, Envy started getting used to the pain, trying to focus on it so that he could ignore it. But the question remained on his mind... where was it coming from? He patted his chest, believing that old monster hag to have put something in him with that liquid of hers, but as the pain continued, he started panting as he put the pieces together: that beat belonged to his heart. He had a beating heart.

"No." Envy whispered, putting his hands on the pool of blood, his skin shimmering from the pieces of stone that got stuck to it. "No." He looked at a wound on his hand. It didn't regenerate. It didn't disappear. And the Ouroboros tattoo that should be under it was now gone. Like it had never existed. "NO." Envy felt something well up on his eyes as he cupped his hand, grabbing the floating pieces of stone and shoving them on his mouth, frantically trying to do something. "Fuck NO NO NO NO NO!" He yelled out, punching the floor, and seeing that his strength was gone. His powers were gone. His whole being was gone.

He was now human.

For the people on the room, Envy was now crying on the floor, reaching for something that clearly wasn't there, acting as if he was covered by something that also wasn't there. He scratched the Ouroboros tatto on his hand, his mouth moving but no words coming out of it, the homunculus stuck in some demented one-man play.

???

Pride smiled to himself. Who did that fool Urizen think he was? He had been controlling an entire country for centuries. Even when weakened, he was a force to be reckoned... the strongest homunculus, no, the first homunculus, and he would exist for as long as time—

The child fell on his back, clutching the floor of the skiff as a demonic sound filled his ears. Without even thinking, he made the steersman send the thing flying down, the thought of hitting the floor and never hearing that noise again pleasing his mind. His nails dug into the wooden floor as he lost control of the steersman for a brief moment, his eyes completely frozen as he realized that the floor wouldn't come fast enough, that hopefully some tower would impale him on the way down, so that his ears would cease to work and he would stop hearing that screech, he had to stop hearing the screech, he needed to stop hearing the screech.

... what was he doing?

The steersman stopped, the shadows holding the two hostages to the skiff so that they wouldn't fly off due to physics, as Pride reassessed the situation. That thing, that screech, was that all it took to kill him? A terrifying image? Pride's fear of the creature was so vivid, so real... that it repulsed him. The mere act of ending his life so as to stop hearing it was enough to make him want to hurl. But he would survive whatever that thing was- no, he wouldn't survive it. He would thrive over it.

Right now, though, he made the steersman get back on track and start heading towards the island, but this time, instead of taking a straight path, he made sure to make it so the skiff would go left and right and up and down a lot- in case any more of those creatures appeared, he wouldn't be driving straight into their mouths like before. Pride turned his attention back to the two hostages, his shadows wrapping around the bones of their arms- cracking them ever so slightly- so as to force them to pull aside their robes.

As a homunculus, Pride's ability was his mastery over shadow. However, he was well aware of an ability that him, and even his brothers and sister had. They were his Father's sins, ideas given bodies, and those bodies could very well change with a little bit of outside interference. Father could melt them down and turn them back into concepts inside his head until he found a more suitable host body. He could give them a completely artificial body, or turn a human into their host body. But Pride found out that he could do that as well. He could transfer his stone into someone else's body... take over their soul, was a phrase he liked to use. So he contemplated the bodies of the two hostages, trying to see who had the better body. Perhaps finding a new host would allow him to go incognito into this land. But, oh, it would be so disappointing to leave behind this body, and abandon such hard work.... "Tell me of your abilities." He ordered. "Or I'll feed you to that beast."

Burial Complex

As the beast had began its assault, Leo had ran around the Tzitzimil in an attempt to flank it, jumping onto a wall and propelling himself off of it, leaping at Tzitzimil with his blades extended, fully intending to stab into the back of the human part of the creature.

Burial Complex

"AHHHHHHH!" Chun-Li screamed as she felt herself being electrocuted by the bolt of lightning. No, the blow didn't kill her, but it sure did hurt like hell. Her hair stood on end and her body felt a bit fried. She knew she couldn't take too many more attacks like that, so she fired another Kikoken, but it was aimed at a different... Instead of trying to defeat Tzitzimitl, she decided to see if she could just destroy the orb with her chi because fighting Tzitzimitl looked like it might not get anywhere.

edited 16th Aug '14 7:38:23 PM by GameGuruGG

-Awakening-

What? What's happening?

Xigbar-who-was-once-Braig, an alternative presents itself. My disciple stirs. The hour draws near when she shall be free of her heavy burden. An exchange may be made, if you wish to return to the land of the living.

-Opportunity/ Price-

Woah. I actually get to go back? Wait. Does this mean I owe you some kinda favor or something? 'Cause if it is, I'd rather know now before I decide to go.

...

Eh, forget it. I'm sure it's not that big of deal...

-Final Inquiry/ Acceptance-

Do you?

Might as well. Though I'd rather surprise them when the time comes, you know? When they think I actually died and Boom! I'm back...You know, that sort of thing.

edited 17th Aug '14 7:18:46 PM by VoidsEmpathy

Near the back of the chamber they were all in, there was a small flash towards the ceiling. Samus's morphball dislodged itself from the small crater it had made upon the high wall and came to the ground with a loud thud. The huntress returned to humanoid form, and wavered on her feet somewhat and held her helmeted head in her hand.

She had been halfway down the tunnel when the explosion took place; she had frantically morphed and boosted, using a bomb to also push her upward so that she wouldn't kill anyone on the ground by smashing into them. From there it had been an eventful if quick journey of orange and white, and the next thing she had known she was lodged in the wall. Thankfully, she hadn't broken anyone's bones, all systems green.

She shook her head and immediately took stock of the situation; everyone looked unharmed if shaken, and Saren's group was back with them in the chamber, thankfully.

She frowned, realizing there was one missing from the eastern group. "Xibgar is not here" she noted neutrally, through comm and across the room. She imagined that was the fault of the sudden explosion, though at the very least it had blocked off or destroyed whatever swarm they had encountered. A small amount of emotion trickled through her — a bit of guilt, the small sorrow of losing even a brief comrade in arms — but she didn't dwell. They could have any grieving necessary later. "A report, if you three please. What was the cause of the explosion? I assume you still have the stolen objective?"

She allowed Sayaka to fill Sazh in — she glanced over at the new arrivals and deemed them fit as well though quite filthy from dust — but her shoulders sagged incredulously at the mention of the pony.

"If she didn't come with you..." she sighed.

Data. Received.

She frowned up at the top of her visor as a map alert appeared at top of it.

Unknown energy spike detected

The mini map in the corner of her HUD pulled up in full across her visor, and it scrolled a decent distance away into the black unknown of the rest of this structure, to point out a vague point a few hundred meters in the direction of where they had been heading earlier. She frowned and stared down the way they had came.

"I'm picking up a strange energy spike from further down our path; either Fluttershy activated something or otherwise a system spiked, and neither option sounds safe for her."

"I recommend haste. Is there anyone here who can not move?"

edited 18th Aug '14 5:25:50 AM by tvtropesnoob

Village of Threshold — Jail

“Quite a few years ago, before the wars for the land, before Orochi, they called Lord Nobunaga ‘the Fool of Owari’,” Ranmaru said quietly. “He didn't have a care in life, partying and whiling the hours away...”
The boy stared into the distance, his countenance growing wistful. “Even though we did not follow the warrior's way, I sometimes long for those days. For the times his smile wasn't cold... But the Oda had enemies. The Imagawa, to the east in Mikawa, Suruga and Tōtōmi, and the Saitō to the north in Mino. Lord Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide, had a vassal by the name of Hirate Masahide, who was a wise and learned man as well as a strong fighter; he was also Lord Nobunaga's teacher. His diplomacy and tact allowed the Oda to focus on the Imagawa, by the way of wedding; Lord Nobunaga entered into marriage with Saitō Dōsan's daughter, Nōhime. When Nobuhide died — I was naught but a small boy, then – Lord Nobunaga lived up to his name, even in the funeral. Master Masahide was so ashamed he slit his belly.”
Ranmaru's eyes focused again, and he looked at Jack with a serious expression. “He also left a letter. Its contents are not mine to reveal... but the lesson was clear. It is better to die honourably than to live in shame. I have lost my family's Daishō. I will get it back, or die trying, even if it means I have to slaughter all that stand before me with my bare hands.”
He held them up and removed one gauntlet. Despite the hardships the boy passed and the countless hours he wielded his sword with power and precision, his palm was pale and dainty like a young maid's. “Milord Jack, I am nothing — nothing — without my honour. My life, my love of Lord Nobunaga, my understanding of Lord Sun Ce... they are all second. Honour comes first. Always.”

Riverrock - City Center
"It was really nothing. I just realized that trying to fight the- trying to fight hi- trying to fight would just get me killed."
He shot a glance down at his tunic, the side torn open by the vampire spawn's claws. He'd come millimeters away from death. If lady luck had gone any other way, he'd be dead. Or maybe lady luck had decided to kill him, and someone up there was fudging the results.
He shot a glance at the ash that used to be the vampire spawn. That used to be a person, an actual decent person, torn apart and then desecrated by the vampire.

"Evening Mist told me how he died. The vampire; about two foot eight, glowing eyes, by the way; stole her purse, and that guy went after him. He died because he tried to do a good deed. If I had been there, that would be me. Now, there's nothing left. No body for the family. No way to find if he had a family in the first place."

He looked up, and stared Stalgrim directly in the eye.
"We need to stop this bastard."

Jack sighed once again.

"As I said, I understand. If we can recover your sword, will you spare the innocent among the lizardfolk and only punish the wicked, the chieftain and his allies? Will your honor at least permit that much mercy?"

Village of Threshold — Jail

“The law of the land requires criminals to be punished, with all of their generations,” Ranmaru said, his voice steely. “As I said, any who will stand in my way will die. By my very hands, if so the need arises.” He paused. “However... you are my better, and obviously of higher lineage, so in this I will obey you: I will not go out of my way to destroy the distant relatives of those barbarians.”

Ia-Kong Ziggurat, Western Passage

Saren drew a deep breath which came out as a sigh. So the mechanical boy was once again experiencing system errors. The 'boy' needed safeguards if he was to be of any use on benighted worlds like this one. The Turian ignored his more fleshly colleague once he had responded, rising to his feet and striding (gingerly) over to the Warforged. He brought a dusty talon up to tap at one glassy optic. His mandibles drew back behind his helmet in a thin grimace of contempt.

"Your maker in this plane was -incompetent.-"

Saren hauled the juvenile Warforged up, and then propped its inert chassis against the wall like a large piece of scrap, taking care to knock its head lightly against the stonework. He wheeled about to face the Huntress, raising a plated eyebrow at her imbalance. This might require careful wording...

" He self-destructed to block the hallway. A gallant effort, it was a waste of firepower we could have used. He did make the mission easier to complete, however. I'll have to notify and reprimand him later."

He said, quite dispassionately. It was unlikely that Aran knew the full details of resurrection to the realms of the Nomads, if she knew of that fallback at all. Truly, Saren did not care with anything approaching sorrow about the Nobody's death. He would come out on the other end alive, if shaken. In fact, on further thought, Xigbar had a possibility in providing assistance against Saren's pursuers. The creature was no soldier, at least. A cold comfort, considering the entities' sheer capacity for malice.

The turian rolled his head on his neck with a muffled pop and a shift of clockworks.

We have the information relevant to this temple's obstacles and the force behind the overall enemy. Therefore, our venture was successful.''"

Saren knocked his brows against his visor's plates at roughly the same time Aran turned to examine her own scanner readout. It would not do if the device was damaged. Fortunately, his visor had suffered little damage from explosion, though he could discern hairline cracks at the scryers' edges. The results flickering across his vision almost provoked another sigh. Ectoplasm, new thaumaturgic energies, and a meddling pastel pegasus right in the middle of it. When was that little creature actually going to live up to her name?

" See if you can rouse the minor. Maybe he'll ask you for confectionary. I'm going to see if I can stop our new contact from getting more confused than they already are."

Without a backward glance, Saren stalked past the various Challengers, seizing the expedition journal from the Doctor's pocket before he broke into a sprint. As he moved, the last of the nausea burnt away. In a short space of time, he skidded around to face the centre passage. Before he could come to a stop, the ex-SPECTRE gathered his energies, concentrated, and then roared down the way in a full-powered Charge. At relativistic speeds, precise landings needed precise calculations. This became further complicated by living allied obstacles in the arrival zone. Saren had to give himself even less of a margin for error these days for that reason. With the aid of the scryer, he had just managed it this time.

In the blink of an eye and a flash, Saren materialised directly behind Fluttershy, perching himself astride her back with his hand over her mouth.

"Hush."

He studied the pale-eyed phantom through the scryers, nodded, then disengaged his helmet to expose his cold and inquisitive stare.

" You're a very patient woman. Arael, I presume. You deserved better while you were alive."

edited 30th Aug '14 3:42:02 PM by Colonial1.1

Something suddenly grabbed Fluttershy from behind and covered her mouth. She at first panicked, putting a surprising struggle before calming down when realizing it was Saren. He then proceeded to speak with the ghost of Areal, apparently. Honestly, the pony was quite surprised by Saren's teleportation, it being almost on par with Twilight's teleportation skills. Though right now, she was worried the ghost might take Saren's intrusion as an attack or being just plain rude.

Riverrock—City Center

Stalgrim put a firm hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “And we will, son; you can be sure of that.” The half-orc’s heavy brows drew together. “That man’s death will not have been for nothing. Evening Mist’s description might be vague, but it narrows things down considerably. This vampire must be from one of the small races; no child would have the strength to overpower a full-grown man, turned or not.”

Two members of the City Watch hurried over, bearing a stretcher. Rising to his feet and stepping aside, Stalgrim let his men gingerly lift the unconscious woman onto it and carry her off. Once they were gone he turned back to Johnny.

“So the vampire lured him in by picking pockets,” he mused. “Perhaps that’s its modus operandi, robbing victims and getting them to chase it into secluded areas with no witnesses. Then it can kill them at its leisure.” The paladin’s frown deepened. “But this man is the only one so far to have risen from the dead as a spawn. So what is the motive?”

The Tzitzimitl threw back its hag’s head and loosed a sound like the roar of an avalanche as Leo buried his blades in its back. Thick jets of the monstrosity’s psychedelic ichor spurted from the wounds, staining his blades and threatening to spray across his face.

“Insolent little puppet!” The monster’s disembodied voice snarled, seething with anger. “You will make restitution for that…”

The head turned a full one-hundred-and-eighty degrees as it spoke, looking down at Leo from between the monster’s shoulder blades. The thick ropes of its gnarled hair suddenly became animated, peeling away like a nest of hissing cobras to expose the upper half of the monster’s face—

And Leo found himself staring into the abyss.

Twin holes sat where the Tzitzimitl’s eyes should have been, bottomless black wells full of infinite darkness. To look into them was to behold the empty void beyond the boundaries of the universe, the aching nothingness hidden behind the veiled curtain of reality where life could not exist and all light was smothered and extinguished. It was a horrifying sight, and yet one that did not allow its spectators to look away; if Leo could not muster the will to break the monster’s gaze and quickly, he would find himself gradually weakening as the Tzitzimitl slowly began to suck out his soul.

Back on the ground, Nana Karas continued to grumble irritably and chatter her teeth as Edward draped his coat over her shoulders. Despite the old crone’s protests, she clutched at the hem of the coat and drew it tightly about herself as if her very life depended on it. “C-c-c-cold…”

The spear drove deep into the wound Envy had already left in the tongue, which seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. With an earth-shuddering thrum of displeasure, the Tzitzimitl’s toad-head released Garland and drew its tongue back into its gaping mouth. Those star-filled eyes rolled back in its head, the toothless maw opened wide, and the air distorted violently as the horror let out a piercing scream of such incredible force and volume that it was like a physical blow. Edward, Envy and Garland would find themselves battered and possibly deafened as punishing waves of sonic force swept over them like a tsunami.

[Tzitzimitl casts shout! Envy, Garland and Edward must make a DC 19 Fortitude save or else take 16 points of sonic damage and be deafened for 5 rounds (30 seconds)!]

Meanwhile, Chun-Li’s kikoken struck the black sphere and dissipated across its surface, having no immediately discernable effect. A rumble ran through the floor, and the throbbing of the miasma around the orb intensified as a flicker of red energy played across its onyx surface for a brief instant…

Entrance Chamber

Sazh’s initial reaction was one of shock. “He WHAT?!”

The sudden shout was too much for his throat, and he doubled over in a coughing fit; it took him several seconds to calm down and straighten up, grimacing and shaking his head as he did so. Part of him was still very much bewildered at how Xigbar had managed to blow himself up (especially with enough force to shake the whole damn pyramid), but another part of him had given way to grim melancholy.

“Damn it all,” he muttered, his words carrying a faint rasp. “Lost a good man…”

Memories from what felt like a lifetime ago came to him then—a man with silver-hair, who just seconds before had been trying to kill him and his friends, letting them pass unopposed… and shortly afterward, the muffled boom of an explosion heard through the doors as they shut behind the l’cie.

Shaking his head, Sazh pushed the memories of Yaag Rosch’s sacrifice away. “Well there’s nothin’ we can do for him now,” he said. “We have ta keep pushin’ forward. His death’ll have been for nothin’ if we don’t get to the bottom of this…”

With those words, the pilot made his way to the inert form of Grey and picked him up with a grunt. “Damn, kid, yer even heavier than ya look…” Glancing at the others, he jerked his head down the way he and Luigi had come.

“C’mon. Let’s go see what the hell she found.”

And with those words Sazh set off in the direction Saren had gone—very slowly, dragging Grey along behind. The reploid’s metal heels made a hideous noise as they scraped along the flagstone floor, kicking up a small trail of sparks.

Apex Chamber

“Plague?” A look of utter dismay came over the ghostly woman’s face. “From this temple?”

The phantasm clutched at her head, lips peeling back in a pained grimace. “Then it is just as I feared,” she said, almost to herself. “Whatever he was planning has already been set in motion. Darkness comes, and I have failed to stop it!”

Moaning in torment, the horned spectre sank to her knees on the floor and buried her face in her hands. “Forgive me, my Lord,” she wept. “The long years I have endured in this accursed half-life were for nothing. I have failed you, completely and utterly…”

It was at that moment that Saren entered the chamber. The ghost paused in her weeping, and looked up at him. “You know my name. Who…” She frowned, and shook her head. “No. What are you? You are not of any race I know, nor are you an outsider…”

Without another word the ghost rose to a standing position, expression wary. “Are you one of his master’s creations?” she demanded. “Some servant of the darkness, come to mock me for my failure?”

From the next cell over, the dwarf let out a harsh laugh. “An’ here I thought paladins had sticks rammed up their ass,” he said. “Kid, I’m gonna give you a little advice. Something that’ll help ya get far in life. Are ya listenin’?”

There was a pause. When he next spoke, the dwarf’s smirk was readily apparent in his tone.

“Ya need ta get laid. Few things in life that help a man calm down like the aftermath of a good roll in the hay. Unless ya can’t, of course,” he added a moment later, almost thoughtfully. “Y’ain’t some kinda eunuch, are ya?”

Another voice cut in before Ranmaru could answer, forestalling any comment on his part. “Any code of honour that compels a man to slaughter innocents wholesale, simply to avenge a personal slight, is not worthy of the name.”

Soothing warmth and soft light preceded the arrival of Vyraiah, who emerged from the wall at the back of the cell as if it were immaterial. The goddess stood there, arms folded within the voluminous depths of her immaculate sleeves, scrutinizing the imprisoned Champions with her violet gaze. Those eyes settled on Ranmaru, piercing in their intensity.

“There was one in these lands who thought much as you do, long ago,” she said, speaking sternly. “He too suffered a grievous wrong, and held an entire race responsible. He believed that honour demanded bloody vengeance.” Almost imperceptibly, the goddess’ eyes narrowed. “He never let go of that sentiment, clinging to it as justification for his hatred. And it is because of that hatred, and the pacts he has struck and the web of lies that he has woven, that we find two nations poised on the brink of genocidal war.”

“So what is it that you wish, Ranmaru, servant of Oda Nobunaga?” she asked. “Will you follow in his footsteps, those of the man who stole your blade, left you falsely imprisoned and engineered these circumstances? Will you show the world that he was right to decry your kind as murderers and betrayers? Will you let him turn your honour against you and make you his pawn? Or will you defy him?”

Both men were lean and wasted things, almost to the point of emaciation; their skin had an unhealthy pallor to it beneath their robes, and there were strange blotches and discolorations scattered across their bodies seemingly at random. They might have been diseased, were it not for the fact that these blemishes didn’t seem to bother them in the slightest. Nor was their skin feverish, for it was neither sweaty nor heated; in fact, they were unnaturally cool to the touch. Save for a very slight amount of heat coming from their bodies and the hate in their eyes, they might have been a pair of mortuary cadavers.

Before either of Pride’s captives could answer, a voice spoke in words that were not words: “T̵͙͈̟̱̤͎e̮̘̠m͕̝͕̯pt̝̹̬͇̰͈ing̤̩͡,̬͎̣͇̪ ̳̲b̞̹͙̪̻̪͠u̷͚̜͕̦t̥̻̫̲͞ I̹̪'͖̩̮̺͖̯̲ll̡͇̹̰͉̦̤̪ ̬͢h͓͈͟ạ͔͎̩̠͇͖v̙̲͔͜e̙͉͓͔̮̖̕ ̙̘͈͝y̬̜̬̘͉̰̭͝o̠̝͈u͚̝͜ ̯̟͡i̜̣̱͞n̳s̫ṯ̶̥̫̮̮͚e̬͎͍͟a͘d̢̼̲̞̞̥̞.͍͚͍̳̤̩͉”

The vulture man, who had clung to the skiff’s deck throughout its frantic descent on all fours, rose to its full height and lunged once more at Pride. With a flap of its wings the demon sprang into the air, and kicked out at the homunculus with feet that ended in wickedly hooked talons.

Even as the monster attacked Pride, one of his victims slowly began to turn in place with great effort, sprinkling something on the deck around his feet. “Protectionnn… fffrom… evil…”

No sooner had he finished uttering these words than an invisible barrier sprang into existence around him. The effect was near-immediate, breaking the hold Pride’s shadows had on the man and repelling them to a one-foot distance. Freed, the man dropped to one knee and gagged, hocking a mouthful of bubbling black blood onto the floor. For the moment he was too weak to do anything, but the barrier would keep Pride’s shadows at bay for the time-being.

Fluttershy wretched herself from Saren's grip, moving his arm out of the way with her wing. "No, he is a friend," the pony replied to Arael. "Its a bit of a long story, but we found a journal made by someone who traveled with you to here before. Who was this person you were trying stop and what was he planning?" she asked.

Gogol Plains, Burial Complex

"Bullseye!"

Leo quickly shielded his face to avoid being blinded by the spraying fluids from the Tzitzimil's wound. He backed off, ready for another attack...

...and instead found himself staring into the darkest, most terrifying eyes on any creature he's ever encountered. He was prepared for a swipe of the beast's claw, or for it to rock back and shake him off, or even for it to stomp on him. His experience fighting Mutants ensured that. But what came next, he could never have prepared for.

The beast twisted its head around and seemed to undergo a grotesque transformation, when really all it did was pull back its own hair.

Not knowing what awaited him, his face froze up, his line of sight staring into the murky black eyes of the beast.

"I...I can't move...why...I trained for this..."

No training, however, could help Leo as he slowly felt himself dying inside. No reaction, no emotion. Just the certainty of death as he stood helplessly and fell on his knee.

"It's...it's the eyes! I have to look away!"

Leo tried to avert his gaze. But the sheer terror seemed to have grasped him. He grit his teeth and let the sweat fall down his brow.

And yet his eyes wouldn't stop staring.

Gogol Plains

Looking around and seeing that Envy, Greed, and Garland were getting blasted and that Leo was not moving and it felt like his chi was being zapped away... and Tzitzimitl appeared to be facing him... Having a reckless idea, Chun-Li ran to try to tackle Leo to the ground, and she focused her sight on Leo's form, trying as hard as she could to not look at Tzitzimitl's face. She fired a Kikoken blindly towards the direction of Tzitzimitl as she attempted her tackle of Leo... She was not sure if it would even hit Tzitzimitl's face or be drawn into as it is also life force, but she had to snap Leo out of his stupor before it was too late and distracting Tzitzimitl might help.

"W-we need to destroy the orb..." Chun-Li tried to say to Leo, rather meekly for the usually confident policewoman, but she was just as scared as anyone would be in this situation.

Gogol Plains, Burial Complex

A sudden force knocked Leo off of his feet and onto his shoulder, breaking his gaze from the Tzitzimil.

Leo took a few seconds to regain his bearings before realizing it was Chun-Li who snapped him out of his trance.

"Th-thanks..."

Leo managed to choke out a response in between gasps. This creature was unlike anything he'd ever faced. He thought he was prepared, but facing the Tzitzimil was like fighting the embodiment of the fear of death.

Chun-Li pointed out the orb, and Leo remembered that they were aiming to destroy it.

"Right..."

The cyborg managed to shakily get back on his feet, his hands on his knees to support himself.

Village of Threshold — Jail

Putting his gauntlet back on, Ranmaru got up. Despite the goddess' almost palpable aura of power, he stared at her without flinching. “Lies? Hatred?” he said. “My honour demands none of that. Hatred is the birthright of Kotarō Fūma and his ilk, and a samurai would never lie, for it is dishonourable. Nay, honour demands this: that the criminal be punished; that all of his generations perish with him, for they are complicit in his crime; that I will be ready to throw my life away for it; and that I would not hesitate. Whatever you say, I shall get my daishō back, and I will have justice; your kirishitan morales are irrelevant to this. Lord Nobunaga would not have it any other way.” He paused. “I can still hear his voice. “More, Ranmaru, cut them all down!” he used to tell me. “Fight on, Guan Ping, indecision is defeat,” he said more than once. His will is clear to me, and you shall not tempt me away from it with your false ideals and foreign gods.”

Sayaka

"So wait..."

Sayaka looked around in dismay. It would seem that she was now lost in a turmoil of never ending running and chasing. Fit though she considered herself, the entire day's tramp and the fight with the acid spitters had taken a lot out of her. On top of that add the sickening feeling of the plague and then the hectic running around the temple and Sayaka was very ready to lie down and just go to sleep.

She would if she could. It wasn't as if that was a choice right now, not with Kyouko, Samus and Sazh looking on. Oh, and don't forget Luigi. They were all up and rearing to go, despite the day's fatigue. Sazh was even carrying Grey- who had been knocked out by the bomb blast or whatever it was. Sazh had the plague.

She had to keep going- she was a magical girl and one who had vowed to see this through too. She had kept up the facade up for this long- she had been extremely energetic thus far and there was no reason for her to just drop it all and collapse like she so disparately wanted to. She swore she had a fever. Her joints ached, a headache had her mind in it's grasp and she really wasn't eager to explore anymore. If she felt like this back in her own world, the next week of school would have been sacrificed to her 'recovery', with video games and T.V being her medicine.

Too bad she wasn't even close to home.

"But we just got back from ....there....."

Saren had already dashed off with a speed even she couldn't muster. Sazh and the others were hot on his heels. Something about Fluttershy and- and, oh bother them all. Sayaka dragged herself after them with a slow walk. She hadn't taken in anything about the Nobody's death and could really care less. She felt sick and pretending not to be was a mind consuming task.

"Maybe she can just find this 'cold one' and be done with it."

Edward's swear got drowned out by the sound of him being thrown across the room and landing on his back, groaning as he slightly resented giving his coat to Nana Karas... that thing had provided him with a small form of padding for his falls, and now here he was, in his vest and shirt combo, trying to be agile again. He needed to get better clothes when all of this was over.

Noticing the bastard was busy struggling on the floor, Edward rushed over to him, getting down on one knee and helping him get up. "Alright, listen." The alchemist whispered. "You're resistant. You can take a lot of blows. I'm going to need you to get up and draw that monster's attention. Be sure to stay away from Nana Karas..." Remembering Envy didn't care about the well-being of others, he hastily added "she's our only way out of this place."

Once the homunculus was (forcibly or not) up on his feet, Edward rushed forward, displaying a small limp on his still-flesh leg. "Nana Karas, I'm gonna need you to back up and stay as far away from Tzitzitml as possible!" He stood a few feet away from the monster and clapped his hands, touching the ground. The rocks around him trembled as he focused his mind on transmutating not one, not two, but several spears out of the earth beneath him, all of them standing diagonally. And then, he flexed his hands once more, and grinned. Another clap of hands, another blue light, and the spears shot out of the ground and towards the giant bitch.

Riverrock - City Center
"Maybe he's not trying to make spawns. Maybe he was interrupted in whatever he does to stop spawns happening with this one."
He glanced towards the setting sun, the light of it fading below the horizon. The same light that rendered the samaritan to dust.
"...or maybe he's collecting the spawns, and this one got up early. It's still light out."

Johnny paused for a moment, thinking over what should be done next.
"We should really check morgues 'n shit like that. See if the previous victims have been getting up. Other than that, the only way to catch him would be to catch him in the act, which puts people at risk. You'd need cops on every street."

He smiled sadly at Stalgrim, suspecting the usual awful truth of the police industry.
"You probably don't enough people for that."

Gogol Plains, Burial Complex

Envy remained on the ground, coughing, trying to understand what was going on. He was one of Father's finest creations. It was impossible, simply impossible for him to suddenly turn human like that. There were no human organs inside of him... apart from whatever that was on his chest, beating, thumping, laughing at him.

No, that wasn't his heart. That was someone else. Envy looked up at the figure approaching him, his eyes widening as he saw no one but himself. "Look at you." 'Envy' spoke up, getting on one knee and grinning down at himself. "You look like a little human baby. With those scared eyes. It's almost enough to make me sick." Envy's lips quivered, and he opened his mouth to speak back, but a voice that wasn't his came out of his mouth. This voice... no, no, no, it couldn't be. Searching for the pool of blood, he grimaced as the face of Edward Elric stared back at him.

"Your biggest dream came true!" 'Envy' said, laughing. "Years of gritting your teeth at them, of wanting to have what they had... and now you're him! You're the Pipsqueak! And you're going to stay like that forever." He clapped his hands, giggling like a school child. "Oh man, this is too good to be true!" 'Envy' grabbed him by the back of his red coat, pushing him up on his feet and glaring right into his eyes. "I never really needed you. A homunculus is objectively better than a human. Things like jealousy have no place inside a homunculus' mind. So that's why-" He gently patted Envy on the cheek. "I had to get rid of you."

Envy stood there, watching, wide-eyed, as his doppelganger walked over to Tzitzitml, yelling something at her. He clenched his fists, feeling the metal arm that was now his, and the soft flesh of a human teenager. Confusion and despair were replaced... replaced by anger. Who did this fucker think he was? He was Envy. Not some shitty teen crying because he would never have the one thing he always wanted. And most importantly, he was not a human. He was not a human. He killed humans. There was no greater pleasure for him than to do that, to watch them squirm, to watch them beg, to watch them cry... the only thing he envied about humans is that there weren't enough for him to kill.

The doppelganger flashed, as if the world was separating. It was Envy, no, it was Pride, no it was the Pipsqueak. No, it wasn't any of these. This was an idiot who was messing with the wrong person. Envy grinned as he stepped forward, breaking out of an Edward Elric-shaped container. Another step, and he was off in a sprint, a mad grin on his lips and tears welling up in his eyes. He raised his fist, turning it into a blade, and without hesitation, he attempted to pierce through this fucker's chest. He was Envy. He was a homunculus. And no one would try to trick him and survive to tell the tale.

???

Hearing the words coming from both his captive's mouth and his pursuer's... 'mouth', Pride had to think fast. And so he did. As the creature lunged towards his boat and as the captive created a makeshift protection from him, Pride made the skeleton man yank the controls of the ship. Holding onto the ship through his shadows, and making sure the other captive was well under his control and attached to the ship, Pride watched as the laws of physics, which he had watched humans discover, worked their magic.

By suddenly stopping the skiff and tilting it slightly, Pride attempted to send the now freed captive flying off the boat, calculating his trajectory so that he would fly right into the creature's face. And with that distraction in place, Pride didn't wait, ordering the skeleton man to get back on course. If the creature was still following them, he would dive down, wait for it to lunge at him, and then get back on track to the island. If the creature had been distracted, then his only order was to go as fast as possible to the island.

Nevertheless, he made it so his last captive put his hands in the air, opening them so that anything inside of them would be swept away by the wind. "Tell me of your abilities. Speak!" He demanded.

Marshes of la-Kong

Luigi remained silent, simply helping Sazh to carry Grey, either by lifting up his feet or his arms, whatever the man wasn't holding onto. Although no words came out of his mouth, his eyes darting around and his teeth constantly biting his lower lip made it clear he was scared out of his mind.

Hearing the voice of the goddess, Jack turned around at once, lowering himself to one knee. He listened with a sorrowful heart as she spoke much as he had only a moment ago. He knew well that Ranmaru had only agreed to indulge his pleas because they shared a common heritage and for whatever reason, the younger samurai respected him as he would an honorable lord that was not his own. His fears became truth as he continued listening and heard Ranmaru's proud rejection of the goddess' wisdom. At last, seeing a lull in the conversation, he spoke.

"I fear your words fall on deaf ears," he said to the goddess. "I am distant kindred to this man and I know it is to live as he does. We are a proud people, and our noble families have followed the code of bushido for many generations. It is a code of absolutes and allows no room for doubt. We are taught that to break it is to not only shame ourselves, but our lord, family, ancestors, and kingdom. It has many virtues, but they can easily become flaws. To speak out against the words of a goddess takes great courage, which is to be admired. But it is done only in the name of principle and an honor that should not be applied to those outside its grasp. I do not think it right to practice the code upon those that do not follow it when that would result only in sorrow and death. He does. You speak against the learning of a lifetime and the weight of our heritage, goddess. Mere words, even yours, cannot overcome that entirely. It took me many years to believe as I do now, and I was a child when I began to learn. I would like nothing more than for my friend to learn from you, but that would be a much greater miracle than healing my opponent from the poison as you did earlier today."

He let out a deep sigh.

"It seems you have taken a great interest in us, goddess. If you are permitted to tell us why, or to aid us in our quest, we would be grateful."